The Big Sky normally puts out low seeded teams that more than often exit the Tournament in the first round. There hasn't been a Big Sky team advance past the Round of 64 in at least the last ten years and the highest that any team from the conference has been seeded was a #13 by Montana in 2013.
North Dakota won the conference by a game over Eastern Washington. Five teams finished within three games of North Dakota as well, indicating that it could be a tightly fought tournament. The Fighting Hawks are projected to be a 16 seed at present, which means no matter who wins the tournament, the winner will be a 16 seed.
There are 12 teams in the conference, but Northern Colorado will not participate in the tournament as part of a self imposed ban due to ongoing investigations into program infractions. The top 5 seeds received a bye to the quarterfinals. The tournament will take place from March 7th to 11th at the Reno Events Center in Reno, Nevada.
First Round-Tuesday, March 7th
#9 Northern Arizona vs. #8 Portland State
#10 Idaho State vs. #7 Sacramento State
#11 Southern Utah vs. #6 Montana State
Quarterfinals-Thursday, March 9th
#9 Northern Arizona vs. #1 North Dakota
#5 Montana vs. #4 Idaho
#7 Sacramento State vs. #2 Eastern Washington
#6 Montana State vs. #3 Weber State
Semifinals-Friday, March 10th
#5 Montana vs. #1 North Dakota
#3 Weber State vs. #2 Eastern Washington
Championship-Saturday, March 11th
In two games this year, North Dakota beat Weber State twice, once by six at home and the other by nine at Weber State. There isn't any serious reason to believe that the Fighting Hawks wouldn't be able to win a third and advance to the NCAA Tournament.
Weber State 63, North Dakota 70
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